Iraq (Antiquities)

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent information she has received about important cultural artefacts taken from(a) the Museum of Baghdad and (b) elsewhere in Iraq being discovered (i) in the UK, (ii) in other European Union countries, (iii) in the US and (iv) on the international arts market; and if she will make a statement. [179338]

Estimates made available to us suggest that, of the 40 important "iconic" objects stolen from the exhibition halls of the Iraq Museum, about half have1432W
now been recovered. Of the 15,000 objects taken from the storerooms about 7,000 have been recovered, which means that around 8,000 are still missing (including 5,000 cylinder seals). So far as I am aware none of the objects stolen from the museum has been recovered in the UK.

Further information was received by the Interpol Tracking Task Force for Iraq at its meeting on 30 and 31 May in Jordan with updates from Interpol the US, UK, France, Italy and Jordan.

France and Italy stated that no objects from the museum had been recovered in their country although both had seized some items of Iraqi origin, possibly from illegal excavations.

The US have recently seized three cylinder seals from the Iraq Museum (marked with IM numbers) and they have also seized several consignments of property suspected of being excavated from Iraq.

Jordanian and Syrian customs have been very active and made many significant seizures including cylinder seals and an Ivory chairback (on the "most wanted" list).

The conference recognised the use of the internet to sell suspicious property from Iraq and made recommendations that are published on the Interpol website.

The Metropolitan Police Art and Antiques Unit has recovered a number of Iraqi objects stolen between the wars and they are in the process of repatriating them.